Page 14 of One Night with the Mountain Man

“Do you mind if I walk with you?” I recognized the deep, gruff voice behind me, but was afraid to turn around. Afraid I was conjuring him up in my head and that he wouldn’t be real.

Jules gasped. “You came.”

I turned to see my sister wrap Samuel in a tight hug. He made eye contact with me through layers of her veil.

“What are you doing here?” My cheeks felt clammy like all the blood had rushed from my face. When Tyson got back from his trip up the mountain, any hope I’d had that Samuel would come to the wedding had been dashed. But here he was. Looking absolutely delectable in a black tux and bow tie.

Jules stepped back, tears coursing down her cheeks.

“Tyson needed a best man.” He held out his arm. “And I heard you needed someone to walk you down the aisle, especially on that ankle.”

His gaze traveled down to the flats I’d had to buy in town. The resort doctor had banned me from heels for the next few weeks.

“Just like that?” I asked.

“No.” He shook his head. “I don’t expect it will be that easy. But Tyson said something to me yesterday that made me think about things differently. I’ve been spending all this time telling myself I don’t deserve to be here. That it should have been me who didn’t make it home.”

I rested a palm on the lapel of his tux. I could feel the strong, rapid beat of his heart through the layers of fabric. “Samuel, that’s not fair…”

He put a finger to my lips. “I know. Instead of honoring their lives, I’ve been punishing myself. Tyson made me realize that the best way to make sure their sacrifice isn’t forgotten is to live my life to the fullest.”

I rose to my tiptoes, babying my injured foot, and tried to pull his head down to mine.

“I want to do that, Adelaide. With you, if you’ll let me.”

Crashing my lips into his, I mumbled my answer against his mouth. “Yes, I want that, too.”

The wedding coordinator cleared her throat. “I’m going to tell the guests we’re running a few minutes behind. That will give the bride a chance to fix her makeup and the maid of honor a chance to…”

I pulled back, staring deep into Samuel’s eyes. The hardness I’d seen before was gone. He looked down at me with nothing but love and hope.

“It will give the maid of honor a chance to tell the best man she can’t imagine a life without him.” Utter joy split my lips into a wide smile.

Samuel hugged me to him and leaned down to whisper in my ear. “And it will give the best man a chance to tell the maid of honor he loves her.”

“He does?”

His beard brushed my cheek. “I do.”

“I think my sister and your brother are the only ones who are supposed to be saying ‘I do’ today,” I teased.

“Good point. Then I’ll have to settle with just saying I love you.” His palm came up to cradle the back of my head.

I tilted back, both surprised and not surprised at all by the truth in his eyes. “Seems odd to say it so soon, but I love you, too.”

He smiled and my entire world righted itself. “There’s nothing odd about it, gorgeous. The moment I saw you, I knew we were meant to be together. I just didn’t want to let you in. Didn’t think I deserved to be happy, to let myself be loved.”

“We’ve got a lot of loving to make up for then.”

“That we do,” he agreed.

“Ready to get this wedding back on track?” the coordinator asked.

I tore my gaze away from Samuel and looked around. My sister had fixed her makeup and stood next to our dad. Their arms linked together for their trip down the aisle and both of them wore huge smiles on their faces.

“Let’s do this.” I stepped next to Samuel and took his arm.

The music started and the first couple started their trip down the aisle. When it was our turn, I held onto Samuel’s arm as tight as I could. His muscles tensed and I could see his pulse ticking along his jaw. A collective gasp came from the groom’s side as we separated at the end of the aisle. No doubt his foster mother and family who had gathered were just as surprised to see him as me.

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